With the Ravens dropping their 2024 season opener in a 27-20 final to defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City on Thursday night, I’ve offered a dozen thoughts, each in 50 words or less:
1. Scrutiny for this offensive line only grows, but the pass protection did calm down as the night progressed. The run blocking is another story and a significant problem until this group shows otherwise. The Daniel Faalele experiment was interesting, but I’m not seeing it as a run blocker at all.
2. The illegal formation madness aside, Ronnie Stanley played about as well as you could hope after a healthy spring and summer. The 30-year-old staying this healthy is the real challenge, but he definitely showed he can still play — even if Shawn Hochuli’s crew didn’t like how he lined up.
3. Though Lamar Jackson played really well overall, he took way too many hits, especially on the heels of dropping weight. I’ll chalk it up to him wanting some revenge for last January, but initiating and taking that much contact is asking for trouble. It was reminiscent of his rookie season.
4. You won’t see a worse combined showing from Roquan Smith and Kyle Hamilton, which is why I’m not overly concerned about the defense. PFF credited them with five missed tackles total, and Kansas City picked on Smith in coverage. Zach Orr needs better answers for middle-of-the-field coverage off bunch formations.
5. Mark Andrews catching two passes for 14 yards on 59 snaps left fans surprised and fantasy football owners exasperated, but we shouldn’t overreact, especially with Andrews missing much of August following a car accident. He’s also exceeded 22 receiving yards against Kansas City just once in six career meetings.
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6. The big plays as a receiver owned the spotlight, but Isaiah Likely made some really good run blocks, which bodes well for Todd Monken continuing to use 12 personnel featuring Andrews and Likely on the field at the same time. You don’t want to be too predictable with personnel groupings.
7. Justice Hill played 43 snaps to Derrick Henry’s 37 and performed very well as a receiver and in pass protection. Given the game situation, I had no problem with that distribution, but mixing in a few more carries to Hill — who had only one — could combat potential predictability concerns.
8. Malik Harrison is a depth piece and better suited for setting the edge as an early-down Sam linebacker. He’ll probably see more time there after Kyle Van Noy’s eye injury anyway, but using him at inside linebacker in the big nickel package didn’t go well at all.
9. Trenton Simpson wasn’t perfect, but he recorded a pass breakup and batted the throw that could have gone to an open Rashee Rice to seal the game for Kansas City. That Patrick Mahomes caught the deflection drained the clock to the two-minute warning, a big factor for that final drive.
10. Baltimore still got its chance at the end of the game, but in realtime, I wondered about going for the fourth-and-4 on the penultimate drive after already going for the fourth-and-1 roughly 90 seconds earlier. Process-wise facing a 10-point deficit, that drive took too long to net only three points.
11. “This is probably the worst game we’re going to play all year, so if this is the best that they’ve got, good luck in the postseason.” Likely was terrific, but making that comment about a team Baltimore has beaten only once since he was in middle school probably isn’t it.
12. I’m not suggesting the Ravens are cursed facing the Chiefs or anything, but can you imagine how excruciating the loss would have been if Likely kept his toe in and they failed in going for two as John Harbaugh intended to do? Enjoy the rest of the Week 1 action!
